Letters, Literacy and Literature in Byzantium

Letters, Literacy and Literature in Byzantium PDF Author: Margaret Mullett
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000941647
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 415

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Book Description
These studies look at general problems of reading Byzantine literature, at literacy practices and the literary process, but also at individual texts. The past thirty years have seen a revolution in the way Byzantine literature has been viewed: no longer is it considered a decadent form of classical literature or a turgid precursor of modern Greek literature. There are still prejudices to overcome: that there was no literary public, or that Byzantium had no drama or humour, but Byzantine texts are now read as literature in the social context of literacy and book culture. One genre is treated here more fully: the letter (Derrida said that letters represent all literature). In these studies epistolography is examined from the point of view of genre, of originality, of communication and as evidence for political history. Other genres touched on include the novel, historiography, parainesis, panegyric, and hagiography. The section on literary process includes essays on genre, patronage and rhetoric, and the section on literacy practices deals with both writing and reading. The collection includes one unpublished lecture which acts as introduction, and additional notes and comments.

Letters, Literacy and Literature in Byzantium

Letters, Literacy and Literature in Byzantium PDF Author: Margaret Mullett
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000941647
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 415

Get Book Here

Book Description
These studies look at general problems of reading Byzantine literature, at literacy practices and the literary process, but also at individual texts. The past thirty years have seen a revolution in the way Byzantine literature has been viewed: no longer is it considered a decadent form of classical literature or a turgid precursor of modern Greek literature. There are still prejudices to overcome: that there was no literary public, or that Byzantium had no drama or humour, but Byzantine texts are now read as literature in the social context of literacy and book culture. One genre is treated here more fully: the letter (Derrida said that letters represent all literature). In these studies epistolography is examined from the point of view of genre, of originality, of communication and as evidence for political history. Other genres touched on include the novel, historiography, parainesis, panegyric, and hagiography. The section on literary process includes essays on genre, patronage and rhetoric, and the section on literacy practices deals with both writing and reading. The collection includes one unpublished lecture which acts as introduction, and additional notes and comments.

The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Literature

The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Literature PDF Author: Stratis Papaioannou
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199351767
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 785

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Book Description
In twenty-five chapters by leading scholars, this volume propagates a nuanced understanding of Byzantine "literature", highlighting key problems, and presenting basic research tools for an audience of specialists and non-specialists.

The Author in Middle Byzantine Literature

The Author in Middle Byzantine Literature PDF Author: Aglae Pizzone
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 1614519617
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 403

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Book Description
Author and authorship have become increasingly important concepts in Byzantine literary studies. This volume provides the first comprehensive survey on strategies of authorship in Middle Byzantine literature and investigates the interaction between self-presentation and cultural production in a wide array of genres, providing new insights into how Byzantine intellectuals conceived of their own work and pursuits.

A Companion to Byzantine Epistolography

A Companion to Byzantine Epistolography PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 900442461X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 543

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Book Description
A Companion to Byzantine Epistolography offers the first comprehensive introduction and scholarly guide to the cultural practice and literary genre of letter-writing in the Byzantine Empire.

Imitation, Knowledge, and the Task of Christology in Maximus the Confessor

Imitation, Knowledge, and the Task of Christology in Maximus the Confessor PDF Author: Luke Steven
Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand
ISBN: 0227177525
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
Maximus the Confessor's combustive historical era, committed doctrinal reflection, and loud and influential voice took him on a turbulent career of traveling and writing around the Mediterranean. Maximus was a spiritual teacher, an ascetic and a contemplative, but he was also a polemicist, a crafter of dogma, an embattled Christologian, a premeditating rhetorician. In this study, Luke Steven binds together these two disparate sides of the man and his writings by showing that throughout his oeuvre the Confessor positions imitation as the key to knowledge. This lasting epistemology characterizes his earlier ascetic and spiritual works, and in his later works it prominently defines his dogmatic Christological method – that is, the means by which he communicates and persuades and brings people to understand and encounter Jesus Christ, the one with two natures, divine and human. This multifaceted study offers a deep assessment of Maximus’s forebears, new insight on the animating assumptions of his thought, and an unprecedented focus on the rhetoric and method of his christological writings.

The Medieval Chronicle 12

The Medieval Chronicle 12 PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004392076
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 291

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Book Description
Alongside annals, chronicles were the main genre of historical writing in the Middle Ages. Their significance as sources for the study of medieval history and culture is today widely recognised not only by historians, but also by students of medieval literature and linguistics and by art historians. The series The Medieval Chronicle aims to provide a representative survey of the on-going research in the field of chronicle studies, illustrated by examples from specific chronicles from a wide variety of countries, periods and cultural backgrounds. There are several reasons why the chronicle is particularly suited as the topic of a yearbook. In the first place there is its ubiquity: all over Europe and throughout the Middle Ages chronicles were written, both in Latin and in the vernacular, and not only in Europe but also in the countries neighbouring on it, like those of the Arabic world. Secondly, all chronicles raise such questions as by whom, for whom, or for what purpose were they written, how do they reconstruct the past, what determined the choice of verse or prose, or what kind of literary influences are discernable in them. Finally, many chronicles have been beautifully illuminated, and the relation between text and image leads to a wholly different set of questions. The Medieval Chronicle is published in cooperation with the Medieval Chronicle Society (medievalchronicle.org).

Christianity, Book-Burning and Censorship in Late Antiquity

Christianity, Book-Burning and Censorship in Late Antiquity PDF Author: Dirk Rohmann
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110485559
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 364

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Book Description
It is estimated that only a small fraction, less than 1 per cent, of ancient literature has survived to the present day. The role of Christian authorities in the active suppression and destruction of books in Late Antiquity has received surprisingly little sustained consideration by academics. In an approach that presents evidence for the role played by Christian institutions, writers and saints, this book analyses a broad range of literary and legal sources, some of which have hitherto been little studied. Paying special attention to the problem of which genres and book types were likely to be targeted, the author argues that in addition to heretical, magical, astrological and anti-Christian books, other less obviously subversive categories of literature were also vulnerable to destruction, censorship or suppression through prohibition of the copying of manuscripts. These include texts from materialistic philosophical traditions, texts which were to become the basis for modern philosophy and science. This book examines how Christian authorities, theologians and ideologues suppressed ancient texts and associated ideas at a time of fundamental transformation in the late classical world.

Exploring Written Artefacts

Exploring Written Artefacts PDF Author: Jörg B. Quenzer
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110753340
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 1283

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Book Description
This collection, presented to Michael Friedrich in honour of his academic career at of the Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures, traces key concepts that scholars associated with the Centre have developed and refined for the systematic study of manuscript cultures. At the same time, the contributions showcase the possibilities of expanding the traditional subject of ‘manuscripts’ to the larger perspective of ‘written artefacts’.

Greek Rhetoric Under Christian Emperors

Greek Rhetoric Under Christian Emperors PDF Author: George Alexander Kennedy
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1556359802
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 359

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Book Description
""Kennedy's exposition is lucid and elegant, his enthusiasm for his subject infectious. Accordingly, the reader approaching that subject for the first time will be frequently enlightened, but never bored: indeed he will probably be stimulated to turn to the author's earlier works for further enlightenment."" --From the review of the original printing by J. D. Frendo in The Classical Review, vol. 34, no. 2, 1984, pp. 204-5: George A. Kennedy is Paddison Professor of Classics, Emeritus, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, an elected Member of the American Philosophical Society, and Fellow of the Rhetoric Society of America. Under Presidents Carter and Reagan, Dr. Kennedy served as member of the National Humanities Council. He was earlier President of the American Philological Association and of the International Society for the History of Rhetoric. He is author of fifteen books, including Classical Rhetoric and its Christian and Secular Tradition from Ancient to Modern Times, New Testament Interpretation through Rhetorical Criticism, Comparative Rhetoric: An Historical and Cross-Cultural Introduction, Aristotle On Rhetoric: A Theory of Civic Discourse, and Progymnasmata: Greek Textbooks of Prose Composition, as well as numerous articles and translations into English from Greek, Latin, and French.

Reading Eustathios of Thessalonike

Reading Eustathios of Thessalonike PDF Author: Filippomaria Pontani
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110524902
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 380

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Book Description
Despite the relevance of Eustathios to both Classical and Byzantine studies, no monograph and no collective volume in English has yet been devoted to his figure. This book attempts to fill in this gap by addressing the various facets of his output - above all his commentaries on Homer, Dionysius the Periegete, Pindar, and the Iambic Canon on the Pentecost; but also his historiographical work, his speeches and his theological production receive due attention. The book also tackles several aspects of Eustathios‘ style (proverbs, allusions, etc.), and the meaning of his work in the context of his historical moment. Addressed at specialists but also at graduate students with an interest in the reception of Classical antiquity and in Byzantine civilisation, the volume gathers papers by leading scholars from various countries, and it opens up new paths of research in several areas of philology and history, above all by interweaving and juxtaposing Eustathios‘ dimension as an Homerist and an immensely learned classical scholar with his capacities as an orator, a highly praised teacher, a rhetorically refined writer of Greek prose, an historian of his own turbulent times, and an archbishop who had to fulfil his everyday duties.